Apparatus and method for affixing tire component member

ABSTRACT

In an apparatus for affixing a tire component member, a capacity of a driving means for a traveling head is decreased, and start end positions of affixing the tire component member are aligned in a peripheral direction of a drum and a widthwise overlap amount between the tire component members is made constant as is expected, and also a cycle time is shortened, in which the apparatus comprises a traveling head  2  moving forward and rearward in an axial direction of a drum  1 , a clamp means  9  pushing a front end portion of the tire component member  3  protruded ahead from the traveling head  2  onto the peripheral face of the drum, a cutting means  12  arranged at one end side of the drum apart from the clamp means  9 , guide rolls  5  arranged on the traveling head  2  and specifying a widthwise position of the tire component member  3 , and a chuck means pulling the tire component member  3  to the clamp means  9.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for affixing a tirecomponent member, which are suitable for forming a shaping material suchas a carcass band, an innerliner or the like by affixing a band-shapedtire component member containing cords or no cord and having a givenwidth on a surface of a drum at a state of extending in an axialdirection of the drum within a given inclination angle range.

BACKGROUND ART

As this type of the apparatus conventionally used in the formation of ashaping material such as carcass band or the like, there is an apparatusas shown by a schematic side view partly shown in section of FIG. 7, inwhich a traveling head 52 is arranged on an outer peripheral side of adrum 51 made of a rigid material so as to move forward and rearward inan axial direction of the drum 51, and in the traveling head 52 arearranged a push roll 54 pushing a tire component member supplied intothe traveling head 52, for example, a band-shaped member 53 formed bycoating plural cords arranged side by side with rubber, onto theperipheral face of the drum and nip rolls 56 acting to supply theband-shaped member 53, respectively, while plural guide rolls 56 guidingthe supply of the band-shaped member 53 while controlling the widthwiseposition thereof and a cutter positioned between two groups of the guiderolls are arranged therein, respectively.

In the affixing of the band-shaped member 53 on the peripheral face ofthe drum 53 according to such an apparatus, a front end portion of theband-shaped member 53 supplied to a position of the push roll 54 orahead thereof under an action of the nip rolls 55 is pressed onto theperipheral face of the drum in the vicinity of one end of the drum 51through the push roll 54, while the band-shaped member 53 is affixed onthe peripheral face of the drum in a linear form based on the rearwarddisplacement of the traveling head 52 while being pushed by the pushroll 54 as schematically shown in FIG. 8. When the affixing positionarrives at a given position in the axial direction, the band-shapedmember 53 is cut by the cutter 57 under the stop of the traveling head52, and then the cut end portion is pressed up to the vicinity of theother end of the drum 51 through the push roll 54 under the continuationof the rearward displacement of the traveling head 52 to conduct theaffixing of one cut material 53 a thereon.

Thereafter, the drum 51 is turned by a distance over a rotating anglerange corresponding to the width of the band-shaped member 53, while afront end portion of the band-shaped member 53 after the cutting throughthe cutter 57 is supplied through the nip rolls 55 in the same manner aspreviously mentioned and such a front end portion of the band-shapedmember 53 is pressed on the peripheral face of the drum through the pushroll 54 under a forward displacement of the traveling head 52 asmentioned above, and subsequently the affixing of next cut material 53 ais carried out in the same manner as mentioned above. These operationsare successively repeated with the turning movement of the drum 51 toaffix the cut materials 53 a on the peripheral face of the drum over afull periphery with no space, whereby a shaping material such as acarcass band or the like having a given peripheral length is formed.

Thereafter, the thus formed carcass band shaping material is taken outfrom the drum and affixed on a carcass band shaping drum not shown overa full periphery to form a carcass band of substantially a cylindricalform as a whole.

In the conventional technique, however, there is a problem that sincethe nip rolls 55, the cutter 57 and the like are incorporated into thetraveling head 52, the weight of the head becomes heavier and a drivingmotor or the like having a large capacity is required for moving thetraveling head 52 forward and rearward at a high speed. Also, slippageis caused between the nip rolls 55 and the band-shaped member 53 whenthe traveling head 52 is moved forward and rearward at a high speed.When the front end of the band-shaped member 53 is contacted with theguide rolls 56 or the like, the supplying amount of the band-shapedmember 53 is changed under the action of the nip rolls 55 for a giventime and hence the start end position in the pressing of the band-shapedmember 53 is changed in the peripheral direction of the drum 51 underconstant forward and rearward strokes of the traveling head 52.Furthermore, according to the conventional technique, the widthwiseposition of the band-shaped member 53 supplied ahead from the guiderolls 56 or the extending posture of the band-shaped member 53 in thewidthwise direction can not be specified sufficiently, so that when thecut materials 53 a are partly overlapped with each other in thewidthwise direction in the affixing, the scattering of the overlapamount is easily caused, which is a cause of lowering the tire quality.Further, the rearward displacement of the traveling head 52 is requiredto be temporally stopped in the course of the affixing step for cuttingthe band-shaped member. Moreover, the supplying operation of the frontend portion of the band-shaped member 53 through the start of theaffixing step is unavoidable, so that the cycle time becomes undesirablylonger.

The invention is to solve the above problems of the conventionaltechnique and to provide an apparatus and a method for affixing a tirecomponent member wherein the capacity of the driving means for thetraveling head can be made sufficiently small, and each of start andterminal positions in the affixing of the tire component member on thedrum can be located in the peripheral direction of the drum atsubstantially a constant position in the axial direction thereof and theoverlap amount of the tire component member on the drum can be renderedinto a constant amount as it is expected, and further the affixing ofthe tire component member can be carried out in a short cycle timewithout stopping the movement of the traveling head and withoutrequiring the preliminary supplying operation of the front end portionof the tire component member.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The apparatus for affixing a tire component member according to theinvention lies in that a band-shaped tire component member having agiven width is affixed on a peripheral face of a rotatable drum made ofa rigid material at a given length range and over a given angle range,and is characterized in that a traveling head moving forward andrearward in an axial direction of a drum is arranged at an outerperipheral side of a drum, and a clamp means is independently arrangedfrom the traveling head for pushing a front end portion of a tirecomponent member protruded ahead from the traveling head on theperipheral face of the drum at a forward moving state of the travelinghead, and a cutting means for the tire component member is arranged atone end side of the drum separated away from the clamp means, and aguide means specifying a widthwise position of the tire component memberand a chuck means pulling out the tire component member to the clampmeans under a forward displacement of the traveling head are arranged inthe traveling head.

When the tire component member is affixed on the peripheral face of thedrum through the above apparatus, the tire component member located at acut state by the cutting means and protruded somewhat ahead from thepush means of the traveling head is first pulled out to the position ofthe clamp means based on the forward displacement of the traveling headunder the action of the chuck means and the front end portion of thetire component member is pressed onto the peripheral face of the drum bythe clamp means while specifying the widthwise position of the tirecomponent member based on the action of the guide means, and then thetire component member is linearly extended and affixed on the peripheralface of the drum by the releasing of the chuck means and the rearwarddisplacement of the traveling head. This operation is continued untilthe tire component member arrives at the end of the drum separated awayfrom the clamp means to complete the affixing of the tire componentmember to such an end through the push means, and thereafter the tirecomponent member is preferably cut at a position extremely near to theedge of the drum by means of the cutting means.

In this case, the cutting is carried out so as to make a state that thefront end portion of the tire component member is protruded somewhatahead from the traveling head, so that the tire component member issuccessively and repeatedly affixed on the peripheral face of the drumas mentioned above while turning the drum over a given angle range,whereby the tire component member can be accurately affixed on theperipheral face of the drum over the given angle range and within agiven length range in the axial direction irrespectively of theinclusion of cords.

Thus, the protruding amount of the front end portion of the tirecomponent member from the traveling head is always constant under arelationship between a rearward stroke limit position of the travelinghead and an acting position of the cutting means, so that the front endportions of the tire component member pressed on the peripheral face ofthe drum by the clamp means at a forward stroke limit position of thetraveling head are aligned at their front end positions in theperipheral direction of the drum in a high precision.

Also, the rear end portion of the tire component member is always cut ata constant position by the cutting means arranged at the one end side ofthe drum, so that the read end positions are also aligned in theperipheral direction of the drum in a high precision.

In the invention, the fear of lowering the tire quality due to theirregular front end positions of the tire component members can beremoved sufficiently.

According to the invention, the protruding amount of the front endportion of the tire component member from the traveling head can berendered into an amount capable of specifying the widthwise position ofthe front end portion through the guide means, so that when the frontend portions is pressed on the drum through the clamp means, thewidthwise position of the front end portion can be controlled as isexpected, and hence the widthwise overlap amount of the tire componentmembers adjoining to each other in the peripheral direction of the drumcan be made a given constant amount in a higher precision.

In the invention, therefore, the fear of lowering the tire quality dueto the irregular widthwise overlap amount of the tire component memberin the peripheral direction of the drum can be removed.

Furthermore, according to the invention, it is not necessary to stop therearward displacement of the traveling head until the completion of onceaffixing of the tire component member, and also it is not necessary topreliminarily supply the front end portion of the tire component memberprior to the start of the affixing step, so that the affixing cycle timeof the tire component member can be advantageously shortened.

In the apparatus of the invention, the cutting means is separated fromthe traveling head and the nip rolls are removed off to make thetraveling head itself small size and light weight, whereby the travelinghead can be moved forward and rearward at a faster speed by means of asmall capacity driving means and also a space occupied for the forwardand rearward movement can be made sufficiently small.

In such an apparatus, it is preferable to arrange means for applyingtension to the tire component member. Thus, a given tension, forexample, a tension of 15-20 N per the tire component member of about 80mm in width can be always applied to the tire component member over aperiod ranging from a pulling step of the tire component member to thecompletion of the affixing step, whereby the affixing of the tirecomponent member can be surely guaranteed.

When at least the chuck means is made possible to displace near to acenter axial line of the drum, after the completion of one tirecomponent member on the peripheral face of the drum, the chuck means isdisplaced toward the direction of the center axial line of the drum,whereby the tire component member held by the chuck means can be affixedmore sufficiently and surely up to an axial end position of the drum.

Further, when a pushing means capable of pushing the tire componentmember onto the peripheral face of the drum accompanied with therearward displacement of the traveling head such as a roller having ahand drum-shaped peripheral face form corresponding to the profile formof the peripheral face of the drum or the like is arranged on thetraveling head, this pushing means is acted with the progress of theaffixing step of the tire component member based on the rearwarddisplacement of the traveling head, whereby the tire component membercan be more surely affixed on the peripheral face of the drum over awhole of the tire component member in widthwise and longitudinaldirections thereof.

In the above apparatus, it is more preferable to arrange a guide railsupporting the traveling head and guiding the forward and rearwarddisplacement thereof. Thus, the forward and rearward displacement of thetraveling head can be carried out in a high accuracy as is expected.

The cutting means may be constructed with a fixed shear blade arrangedover a full periphery of an end of the drum and a movable shear bladelocated in correspondence to the fixed shear blade but also may be arotational cutting blade or an ultra-sonic vibration cutting blade.

When the cutting means is constructed with the fixed shear blade and themovable shear blade, the tire component member can be precisely cut atone end edge position of the drum. In case of the rotational cuttingblade, the tire component member can be cut at an expected position. Incase of the ultra-sonic vibration cutting blade, it is not required tocontact blades as compared with the case of using a pair of shearblades, so that the service life of the cutting means can be prolonged.

When the affixing means pushing a side portion of the tire componentmember affixed on the peripheral face of the drum onto the peripheralface of the drum or the adjoining tire component member over a fulllength of the tire component member is arranged independently from, forexample, the traveling head, it is acted in synchronism with theprogress of the affixing step of the tire component member orindependently from the affixing step, whereby the required affixing ofthe side portion of the tire component member can be always conductedsurely.

Also, the method of affixing the tire component member according to theinvention using the above affixing apparatus lies in that a band-shapedtire component member having a given width is affixed in an axialdirection of a drum while pushing a front end portion of the tirecomponent member onto a peripheral face of the drum by means of a clampmeans, and after the completion of one affixing, the tire componentmember is cut at a position corresponding to an axis end of the drum,and then a front end portion of a next tire component member is pulledout to a position of the clamp means through a forward displacement of atraveling head while turning the drum over an angle range correspondingto the width of the tire component member, and thereafter theseoperations are repeated.

In this case, the tire component member can be affixed on the drum so asto overlap at a given amount in the widthwise direction, and also theaffixing number of the tire component member having a constant width canbe changed in accordance with a designation of a rim size for the tireunder an increase or a decrease of an affixing angle range on theperipheral face of the drum.

According to the latter case, when the width of the tire componentmember is previously selected, the tire component member cansufficiently cope with the change of a tire size only by changing theaffixing number of the tire component member having the same width.

In this way, the tire component member is affixed onto the peripheralface of the drum under the selection of the affixing number over a givenangle range to form a shaping material for a green tire having aperipheral length as is expected, and thereafter the shaping material isaffixed on a shaping drum having a required outer diameter through atranscription or the like to shape into an innerliner, a carcass band orthe like having a cylindrical form as a whole.

In this method, the front end portion of the tire component member ispulled out to the position of the clamp means under an action of tensionto the tire component member and made delivery to the clamp means,whereby the tire component member subjected to the tensile force can beaffixed on the peripheral face of the drum smoothly and surely.

In case of affixing the tire component member onto the peripheral faceof the drum, after the completion of one affixing step of the tirecomponent member and before the start of the cutting step, the affixedrear end of the tire component member is closely adhered to theperipheral face of the drum, for example, by displacing the rear endportion toward a direction of a center axial line of the drum, wherebythe tire component member can be more sufficiently affixed onto theperipheral face of the drum over a full length ranging from the frontend to the rear end.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematically side view partly shown in section of anembodiment of the apparatus according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematically perspective view illustrating a cutting means.

FIG. 3 is a schematically front view illustrating a guide roll and apositioning means.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view partly shown in section of a main part in anaffixing step of a tire component member.

FIG. 5 is a schematically front view illustrating an affixing means.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view illustrating a final affixing step of a tirecomponent member in another embodiment of the apparatus according to theinvention.

FIG. 7 is a schematically side view partly shown in section of a mainpart in the conventional apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a schematically perspective view illustrating an affixingoperation in the conventional apparatus.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In FIG. 1 is shown an embodiment of the apparatus according to theinvention, wherein numeral 1 is the same drum as described in theconventional technique. This drum 1 can turn around a center axial lineCL thereof every a given angle range.

Numeral 2 is a traveling head moved forward and rearward at an outerperipheral side of the drum 1 in the axial line direction thereof. Thetraveling head 2 is provided with a pushing roll 4 pushing and affixinga band-shaped tire component member 3 having a given width onto theperipheral face of the drum as an example of a pushing means, preferablya roll having a peripheral face corresponding to an outer profile lineof the peripheral face of the drum, and plural guide rolls 5 contactingwith upper and lower faces and both side faces of the tire componentmember 3 to specify positions of the tire component member 3 in up-downdirections and widthwise direction thereof as an example of a guidemeans.

Moreover, the pushing roll 4 may be replaced with a plate-shaped elasticplate, a brush or the like for the purpose of reducing a thickness ofthe roll itself in the axial line direction of the drum 1. As the casemay be, they may be omitted to attain more miniaturization and weightreduction of the traveling head 2.

In this embodiment, a clamp cylinder 6 is arranged between the guiderolls 5 located at an upper side of the figure. A chuck meanscontributing to pull out the tire component member 3 is constructed bythe clamp cylinder 6 and one or plural guide rolls 5 located at a lowerside of the figure and sandwiching the tire component member 3 with thecooperation of the cylinder.

Such a traveling head 2 is supported by a guide rail 7 arranged inparallel to the axial line of the drum. Also, the forward and rearwarddisplacement of the traveling head 2 is guided by the guide rail 7.

The forward and rearward movement of the traveling head 2 can be carriedout by connecting the traveling head 2 to, for example, a timing belt 8driven by a motor to move between given forward limit position andrearward limit position. Also, the forward and rearward movement can becarried out by the action of cylinder, ball screw, gear and the likedirectly connected to the traveling head 2 instead of the above case.

Further, a clamp means 9 pushing a front end portion of the tirecomponent member 3 onto a peripheral face of the drum is arranged at agiven position in the axial line direction of the drum 1 in the vicinityof the forward limit position of the traveling head 2 independently fromthe traveling head 2. Also, a cutting means 12 consisting of a fixedshear blade 10 arranged over a full peripheral of the drum 1 and amovable shear blade 11 shearing the tire component member 3 togetherwith the fixed shear blade 10 is arranged at one end side of the drum 1separated apart from the clamp means 9 independently from the travelinghead 2.

Moreover, the clamp means 9 can be naturally arranged so as to changethe position in the axial line direction of the drum, if necessary.

In such a cutting means 12, the movable shear blade 11 is areciprocating blade moving forward and rearward in a directionperpendicular to the axial line of the drum, or may be a swing bladehaving substantially a hook shape as a whole and swinging, for example,by a cylinder as shown by a schematically perspective view in FIG. 2.

Alternatively, the cutting means may be constructed with a rotationalcutting blade or an ultra-sonic vibration cutting blade arranged near toan end of the axis of the drum.

In the above embodiment, it is preferable that the upside and downsideguide rolls 5 contacting with the tire component member 3 from up-downdirections give a form along a cross-sectional profile line of theperipheral face of the drum to the tire component member 3 passingthrough the guide rolls for enhancing the certainty of affixing the tirecomponent member 3 to the peripheral face of the drum 1. For this end,as shown by a schematically front view in FIG. 3( a), it is preferablethat at least lower side guide rolls 5 are rendered into a fold formbending at plural places in the axial line direction in the formapproximated to the cross-sectional profile line to thereby assist theforming deformation of the tire component member 3 based on its deadweight.

In the upside and downside guide rolls 5 of the illustrated embodiment,each flange formed on axial end portions of these rolls functions tospecify each widthwise position of the tire component member 3.

At this position, it is preferable that one of the plural guide rollsguiding the arrival of the tire component member 3 to the traveling head2, a guide roll 13 in FIG. 1 is energized toward a down side of thefigure to function as a tension applying means generating a requiredtension to the tire component member 3 wrapped therearound. In thiscase, a tension to the tire component member 3 may be about 15-20 N, forexample, when the width is about 80 mm.

Preferably, as shown by a schematically front view in FIG. 3( b), achannel-shaped positioning means 16 regulating both side edge positionsof the tire component member 3 is arranged between two guide rolls 14,15 arranged at a position in the vicinity of the drum 1 or nearest tothe drum 1 in the figure for enabling the widthwise positioning of thetire component member 3 fed to the traveling head 2.

When the tire component member is affixed onto the peripheral face ofthe drum within a given length range in the axial line direction of thedrum over a given angle range by using the affixing apparatus having theabove construction, as shown by a section view of a main part in FIG. 4(a), a tire component member 3 cut by a cutting means at one end side ofa drum 1 is held by a chuck means at a state of protruding a front endportion somewhat ahead from a push roll 4, and a traveling head 2 isdisplaced forward to a given forward limit position as shown in FIG. 4(b) to pull out a given amount of the tire component member 3. Then, thefront end portion of the tire component member 3 is pushed onto aperipheral face of the drum by means of a clamp means 9 at the aboveposition of the traveling head 2, for example, under an action of agiven tension to the tire component member 3, and thereafter a linearaffixing of the tire component member 3 to the peripheral face of thedrum is carried out by releasing the chuck means and straightforwarddisplacing rearward the traveling head 2 in an axial line direction ofthe drum under a forward displacement of a push roll 4 as shown in FIG.4( c) to thereby continuously affix the tire component member 3 up tothe above one ed of the drum through the traveling head, directly thepush roll 4. Then, as shown in FIG. 4( d), the push roll 4 is separatedaway from the one end of the drum by a given small distance, e.g. 40 mmto stop the rearward displacement of the traveling head 2, while thechuck means is actuated and subsequently the cutting means 12, a shearcutting blade in the illustrated embodiment is operated to cut the tirecomponent member 3 just at an edge position of the drum, whereby a firstaffixing of the tire component member 3 is terminated.

Thereafter, the drum 1 is turned over an angle range corresponding to awidth of the tire component member 3, and the aforementioned operationsare successively repeated since then.

FIG. 2 shows a case that the tire component member 3 having a givenwidth is affixed plural times by the above method. By conducting thistreatment on the peripheral face of the drum over given angle range iscompleted the formation of a shaping material such as a carcass band, aninnerliner or the like.

In the above affixing of the tire component member, when the size of thewidth is properly selected, as previously mentioned, the tire componentmember can sufficiently cope with the change of a designation of a rimsize of a product tire only by changing the affixing number under theincrease or decrease of the affixing angle range on the peripheral faceof the drum.

For example, when the tire component member is a band-shaped member fora carcass shaping material and a width of the band-shaped material is76.9 mm, if the band-shaped materials are affixed by overlapping themwith each other at only a width corresponding to one cord embeddedtherein, a shaping material for a carcass band having a designedperipheral length can be formed by affixing 17 cut parts of theband-shaped material when a designation of a rim size is 17 inches or 18parts thereof when a designation of a rim size is 18 inches. Also, evenif the band-shaped material is used in other tires having variousdesignations of rim size, excess or deficiency of the width size is notcaused and the lowering of uniformity in the product tire is not caused.

According to the affixing apparatus, as mentioned above, the nip roll55, cutter 57 and the like used in the conventional technique areparticularly removed from the traveling head to realize theminiaturization and weight reduction of the traveling head, so that adriving means for the traveling head can be made small in the capacity.

In the cutting of the tire component member 3, a length of the front endportion protruding ahead from the push roll 4 is made 40 mm or otherconstant length, whereby a start position of the tire component member 3to be affixed onto the outer peripheral face of the drum can be alignedin the peripheral direction of the drum at a higher accuracy. Also, theaffixing position of the front end portion can be accurately controlledby specifying the widthwise position of the front end portion by theguide roll 5 under a short protruding length thereof. As a result, thewidthwise overlapping amount between the mutually adjoining affixed tirecomponent members 3 can be always made to a given constant amount.

In this embodiment, it is not required to interrupt the rearwarddisplacement of the traveling head 2 over a period from the start ofaffixing the tire component member 3 to the end thereof and thepreviously pulling-out operation of the front end portion of the tirecomponent member 3 is useless prior to the start of the affixing step,so that the cycle time of the affixing step can be shortened to largelyimprove the operation efficiency.

In case of affixing the tire component member 3 onto the peripheral faceof the drum 1 over a given angle range as mentioned above, in order tomore properly and surely conduct the affixing of each side portion ofthe tire component member 3 onto the peripheral face of the drum or ontothe adjoining tire component member, it is preferable that an affixingmeans for conducting the correction of the form in the side portion ofthe tire component member and the pushing of the side portion whilemoving in the axial line direction of the drum 1 is integrally unitedwith the traveling head 2 or arranged independently therefrom.

FIG. 5 is a schematically front view illustrating the affixing meansarranged independently from the traveling head 2. This affixing means 17is constructed by rotatably attaching a roller 19 such as siliconerubber roller or the like to an end of a swing bracket 18 around anaxial line extending in a direction perpendicular to an extendingdirection of the tire component member 3 affixed onto the peripheralface of the drum and connecting the other end of the swing bracket 18 toa hinge of a cylinder 20 bringing about the swing movement of thisbracket 18 and moving them as a whole forward and rearward in the axialline direction of the drum 1, if necessary.

According to this affixing means 17, the roller 19 is displaced downwardto a position shown by a phantom line in the figure under the action ofthe cylinder 20, at where the side portion of the tire component member3 on the peripheral face of the drum is pressed over a given widthcorresponding to a length of the roller, while the roller 19 is rotatedover a distance corresponding to an affixed length of the tire componentmember 3, whereby the affixing of the side portion of the tire componentmember 3 can be realized as is expected.

Although the action of the apparatus according to the invention isdescribed with reference to the case of FIG. 4, if the required affixingof the tire component member 3 is carried out by using the affixingapparatus omitting the attachment of the push roll 4 to the travelinghead 2, the affixing of the tire component member 3 under the action ofthe push roll 4 as shown in FIG. 4( c) can not be conducted. In thiscase, the chuck means including at least plural guide rolls 5,preferably the whole of the traveling head 2 can be displace near to thecenter axial line of the drum 1. According to the latter case, after thetraveling head 2 is displaced rearward to a position separated from oneend of the drum 1 at a given distance, the whole of the traveling head 2is displaced by a given amount in the center axial line direction of thedrum 1 as shown in FIG. 6, e.g. toward a downside in the figure whileclamping the tire component member 3 with the chuck means, whereby thetire component member 3 on the peripheral face of the drum preferablyunder an action of tension can be affixed onto the peripheral face ofthe drum over the full length as is expected.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to the invention, therefore, the capacity of the driving meansfor the traveling head and the driving space can be made sufficientlysmall, and also the start end position and terminal end position ofaffixing the tire component member onto the drum can be made tosubstantially constant positions in the axial line direction of the drumat the peripheral direction thereof, while the overlap amount of thetire component members on the drum can be made constant as is expectedand the affixing of the tire component member can be carried out in ashort cycle time without requiring the previously pulling-out operationof the front end portion of the tire component member.

Furthermore, the cut end of the tire component member cut by the cuttingmeans arranged near to the axis end of the drum is pull out as it is andaffixed onto the drum, whereby a starting material having a highdimensional accuracy and a high quality after the affixing can beformed.

1. An apparatus for affixing a tire component member in which aband-shaped tire component member having a given width is affixed on aperipheral face of a rotatable drum made of a rigid material at a givenlength range and over a given angle range, wherein a traveling headmoving forward and rearward in an axial direction of the drum isarranged at an outer peripheral side of the drum, and a clamp isindependently arranged from the traveling head for pushing a front endportion of a tire component member protruded ahead from the travelinghead on the peripheral face of the drum at a forward moving state of thetraveling head, and a cutter which cuts the tire component member thatis on the drum is arranged at one end side of the drum separated awayfrom the clamp relative to the axial direction of the drum, and a guidespecifying a widthwise position of the tire component member and a chuckpulling out the tire component member to the clamp under a forwarddisplacement of the traveling head are arranged in the traveling head.2. An apparatus for affixing a tire component member according to claim1, which further comprises a tensioner which applies a tension to thetire component member.
 3. An apparatus for affixing a tire componentmember according to claim 1, wherein at least the chuck is disposed tobe displaced to a position near a center axial line of the drum.
 4. Anapparatus for affixing a tire component member according to claim 1,wherein a pusher capable of pushing the tire component member onto theperipheral face of the drum accompanied with the rearward displacementof the traveling head is arranged on the traveling head.
 5. An apparatusfor affixing a tire component member according to claim 1, which furthercomprises a guide rail supporting the traveling head and guiding theforward and rearward displacement thereof.
 6. An apparatus for affixinga tire component member according to claim 1, wherein the cutter isconstructed with a fixed shear blade arranged over a full periphery ofan end of the drum and a movable shear blade located in correspondenceto the fixed shear blade.
 7. An apparatus for affixing a tire componentmember according to claim 1, wherein the cutter is a rotational cuttingblade or an ultra-sonic vibration cutting blade.
 8. An apparatus foraffixing a tire component member according to claim 1, which furthercomprises an affixer which pushes a side portion of the tire componentmember affixed on the peripheral face of the drum onto the peripheralface of the drum or the adjoining tire component member over a fulllength of the tire component member.
 9. A method of affixing a tirecomponent member using an apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein thetire component member is affixed in the axial direction of the drumwhile pushing the front end portion of the tire component member ontothe peripheral face of the drum by the clamp, and after the completionof one affixing, the tire component member is cut at a positioncorresponding to an axial end of the drum, and then a front end portionof a next tire component member is pulled out to a position of the clampthrough a forward displacement of the traveling head while turning thedrum over an angle range corresponding to the width of the tirecomponent member, and thereafter these operations are repeated.
 10. Amethod of affixing a tire component member according to claim 9, whereinthe tire component member is affixed on the drum so as to overlap at agiven amount in the widthwise direction.
 11. A method of affixing a tirecomponent member according to claim 9, wherein the affixing number ofthe tire component member having a constant width is changed inaccordance with a designation of a rim size for the tire.
 12. A methodof affixing a tire component member according to claim 9, wherein thefront end portion of the tire component member is pulled out to theposition of the clamp.
 13. A method of affixing a tire component memberaccording to claim 9, wherein the tire component member is affixed ontothe peripheral face of the drum, after the completion of one affixingstep of the tire component member and before the start of the cuttingstep, the affixed rear end of the tire component member is closelyadhered to the peripheral face of the drum.